Disappointed that Black Swan wasn’t playing in your area this past weekend? Me too, but hold onto your tutu—the ultra-buzzworthy film will soon see a wide release.
The talk of the film world for the past several months, Swan will hit theatres across the U.S. and Canada on December 22. While the film is not exactly your typical let’s take the kids to see a movie on Christmas-type fare, this news is sure to bring some holiday cheer to moviegoers who were forced to miss out on last weekend’s limited release.
A limited release, by the way, that scored a remarkable $80k per venue average. Apply that to the 1000 theatres that the film is headed for later this month, and you’ve got an $80 million weekend. Not too shabby, but not surprising either. Swan has received a herd of media attention since its debut at the Venice International Film Festival in September.
Turning his attention to the unforgiving world of ballet, director Darren Aronofsky tells the story of two up-and-coming dancers as they compete for the lead role in a production of Swan Lake. Aronofsky takes a dark look at the lifestyle, including what dancers go through to advance their careers and how it consumes them—not unlike his examination of the world of professional wrestling (another underappreciated art form—and yes, it is an art form) in his previous film, The Wrestler.
Just as Mickey Rourke did in that film, Portman and Kunis underwent a rigorous training regiment in preparation for their roles. According to USA Today, the actresses each dropped around 20 pounds, and learned proper ballet techniques for their roles. Additionally, Portman suffered a collection of injuries throughout filming.
The result—according to trailer that I saw a few weeks ago (see below) and those who have actually seen the film—is nothing short of spectacular. While I don’t always latch onto psychological thrillers, this one has my attention—and it has nothing to do with the love scene. I will at least be making an attempt to break away from all of the holiday celebrations to give Swan a view later this month.
Were you lucky enough to catch Black Swan over the weekend? If so, what did you think? Does it live up to the hype? If you haven’t seen it yet, will you—like me—be heading to the theatre on the 22nd? Be sure to share your thoughts as comments below.
Millions of people anxiously watched the clock on December 4, awaiting the stroke of midnight. No, they weren’t practicing for New Years. Instead, they were gathering with fellow Twilighters and Twihards at local retail stores for the DVD release of the third installment of the Twilight Saga, Eclipse.
Originating as a paranormal romance novel for young adults, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga has become a pop culture phenomenon, gaining popularity in multiple realms of entertainment—books, film, and music.
Due to the increased popularity of the series, the Twilight Saga has since been adapted into five films. The last book, Breaking Dawn, will be split into two films tentatively scheduled for release in theaters on November 18, 2011 and November 16, 2012. And as gross sales for the first three films have steadily increased with each release (Twilight, $192 million; New Moon, $296 million; Eclipse, $300 million), the final two films are expected to do even better.3 Released in November 2009, New Moon set a Guinness World Record for highest opening day sales by grossing $72.7 million.4
Twilight and New Moon have gained popularity among young adults, earning accolades at both the MTV Movie Awards and the Teen Choice Awards. Meanwhile, the most recent release, Eclipse, has been nominated for eight People’s Choice Awards including Favorite Movie, Favorite Drama Movie, and Favorite Movie Actor and Actress, among others.
Released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 4, Eclipse sold three million copies in just two days. Over the next four weeks, Steve Nickerson, president of Summit Entertainment, expects sales to increase dramatically for both original and special edition releases. Summit is committing three times as much on marketing in the post-street window compared to Twilight and New Moon, which both sold around four million units in their first two days in stores and over nine million units since.5
The overall booming popularity of Twilight has turned the city of Forks, Washington into a major tourist attraction. Every month, an average of 8,000 tourists flock to the tiny Seattle town to eat from Twilight-inspired menus at local restaurants and venture on local tours.8 Even those not able to make the trek can see the town and its splendor by watching the documentaries, Twilight in Forks and Destination Forks – Real World of Twilight.
However, despite the unparalleled popularity of the Twilight Saga, parents and educators often dispute the novels, labeling them unsuitable for young adults due to subtle religious and sexual notions. In 2009, the series ranked number five on the American Library Association’s Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books.9 But that hasn’t stopped readers from catching Twilight fever. As of March 2010, the print series sold over 100 million copies worldwide.8 And Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse have grossed over $1.7 billion in theaters worldwide.3
CVS Midwest Tape is Here to Re-Vamp Your Collection
CVS Midwest Tape has created a collection of audiobooks, CDs, and DVDs from the Twilight Saga. To view our collection, click on the Twilight panel on the CVS Midwest Tape homepage.
Has your library seen a large demand for Twilight materials? What other popular culture materials are in high demand at your library?
What do you do when no one cares about your award nominee announcement? Adding a little Bruno Mars is a good start.
For years, the announcement of nominees for the Grammy Awards, music’s highest honor, consisted of a few randomly selected artists, a podium, and a slew of reporters—all of which assembling at an ungodly early hour in Los Angeles. The artists would then read names from a card as photographers clicked away and giddy entertainment writers feverishly scribbled on their notepads.
The problem was that no one really cared. After all, the nominees would be up on the internet minutes after they were announced.
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the driving force behind the Grammy Awards, recognized this as an opportunity. Last year, they decided to add a little pizzazz to the proceedings by turning the event into an event—an hour long television special that intersperses live performances from top artists between nominee announcements for each of the major award categories. Think of it as a sort of dress rehearsal for the actual award ceremony in February.
With hip-hop legend—and multiple Grammy winner himself—LL Cool J retaining his spot as host, the second annual edition of the special aired last night.
Performers ranged from pop starlet Katy Perry to country sensation Miranda Lambert to rockers Train, but two standout performances of the unplugged variety—the aforementioned Mars’ stripped down rendition of his smash hit “Just The Way You Are” and Best New Artist nominee Justin Bieber’s heavy-on-the-guitar acoustic version of “Favorite Girl” (straight from the recently released My Worlds Acoustic)—were a step above the rest.
Mars would go on to pull double-duty, later performing the Record of the Year-nominated “Nothin’ On You” with rapper B.o.B, who himself returned to close out the show with “Don’t Let Me Fall.” Viewers may have witnessed the future of the Grammys as Mars and B.o.B., both in the infant stages of their careers, received a combined 12 nominations—and their performances certainly justified such accolades.
In between performances, nominees from five different categories were announced. Aside from a curveball or two, the nominations stuck fairly close to what the experts had predicted.
As expected, Eminem’s name was called more than once. The Detroit rapper picked up an Album of the Year nom for his comeback album Recovery and was also nominated for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year (in case you’re wondering, the Song of the Year award goes to the writer of the song, while the Record of the Year goes to the performer) for “Love The Way You Lie,” his revered collaboration with Rihanna. Em ended up with ten nominations in total by night’s end.
Other prominent nominees included a pair of “Ladies”—Antebellum and Gaga—each nominated for six awards, including Album of the Year. Jay-Z also picked up six nominations, including his song “Empire State of Mind” featuring Alicia Keys, which received a Record of the Year nom.
Surprises on the night included Ray Lamontagne’s “Beg Steal or Borrow” picking up a Song of the Year nomination, the Best New Artist category (which is generally reserved for pop acts) recognizing jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, and Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream being nominated for Album of the Year despite being left out of most experts’ predictions.
A full rundown of the nominees can be found on our website by clicking the Grammy Nominees panel on our homepage, or by selecting the “Grammy Nominees 2011” collection in the Browse section.
Let the discussions begin—who should win? Who got snubbed? Who put on the best performance last night? Leave your comments below!
Upon opening and printing the entry form, answer true or false to the provided questions. For every true answer, place an X in the question number’s corresponding square on the game sheet. For false, place an O in the question number’s corresponding square.
When you have three Xs in a row—horizontally, vertically, or diagonally—follow the supplied instructions to submit your entry. All correct entries will be entered in a drawing for a Blu-ray player. The winner will be announced online on January 17, 2011.
So join your fellow librarians at CVSmidwesttapes.ca and celebrate the season with some fun trivia and an awesome prize.
Fox’s musical comedy sensation Glee is only in its second season but it is already a driving force in television. As a newly minted pop culture phenomenon, there is a high demand for all things Glee.
The Show
Glee follows high school teacher Will Schuester as he tries to resurrect McKinley High School’s less than favorable glee club, New Directions. Armed with funny one-liners and high school melodrama, the show delivers a story of hope as the group—comprised of socially and ethnically diverse students—prepares for and competes in choir competitions in the hopes of making it to Nationals.
While the major draw of the show has been its innovative catalog of Top 40, country, R&B, hip-hop, and Broadway tunes coupled with intricate dance numbers that smoothly fit into the context of the show, the breakthrough hit is more than just singing and dancing. Interspersed between the theatrical routines, Glee slyly tackles tough topics like teen pregnancy, bullying, sexuality, and religion.
Glee’s directors bypassed traditional casting calls, instead culling cast members straight from Broadway and saving guest spots from comedians, pop sensations, and Broadway stars for one-time appearances. The show has also dedicated entire episodes to singing inspirations like Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show among others.
Accolades
Despite early critical skepticism, (a show featuring singing and dancing was unheard of during a time when hard-hitting dramas and established comedies dominated primetime television) Glee quickly proved itself a success.
In its first season, Glee was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes (winning the award for Best Television Series—Musical or Comedy), and six Satellite Awards.1 The Glee cast has two certified gold albums (Glee: The Music, Volume 2 and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers), one certified platinum album (Glee: The Music, Volume 1) and has racked up more than 10 million song downloads.2 Currently, Glee continues to rank as the number one entertainment program among adults aged 18–49 for the first six weeks of the 2010-2011 season.3
Glee has also become a commercial success thanks to dedicated fans who have coined themselves as “Gleeks”. The increasing popularity of the show has spawned a national tour, a young adult book series, an iPad application, a karaoke video game, stationery, greeting cards, apparel, jewelry and even the Glee Project--a reality series focused on finding the next Glee cast member through open casting calls
CVS Midwest Tape is Here to Gleek Your Collection
CVS Midwest Tape has created a collection of CDs featuring music from the show. We update the collection every Wednesday morning with CDs from original artists whose songs were featured on the previous night’s episode.
To find the collection Glee – The Music & More, click browse in the toolbar on the CVS Midwest Tape website.
Select CD and browse by collection and then scroll through the collections to find Glee – The Music & More.
A feature panel on the CVS Midwest Tape website will also redirect you to the collection. Click Next to flip through the panels until you find the one featured below.
Has your library experienced a large request for Glee related materials? What other pop culture materials are in high-demand at your library?
Troubled rapper T.I.’s new album No Mercy is now set for a December 7th street date. Formerly titled King Uncaged, No Mercy includes the single "Get Back Up", which features a guest spot from R&B singer Chris Brown. The album is poised to be one of the top hip-hop releases of 2010.
After lighting up the stage at the American Music Awards, Diddy’s side project Diddy-Dirty Money will release Last Train to Paris, their debut album, on December 14th. Once set to release back in June, Diddy was recently quoted as saying that he was aiming for a December street date—and we’re glad he was able to come through.
As proven previously, the titles’ street dates are subject to change.
Because all orders on these titles were canceled in September, we want to remind libraries to make sure they reorder today!
After our highly attended Industry News webinar, many attendees expressed a great interest on what information we could share on eBooks. The amount of blog posts and articles we found on the topic was staggering. And it isn’t just the blogosphere blowing up with eBook talk. The newfound popularity of such digital reading devices as the Kindle, Nook, and iPad is influencing the way people obtain reading materials. More frequently, readers are choosing to download eBooks from virtual sources. And many major retailers—like Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart—are now offering devices to consumers. With eBooks becoming increasingly prevelant, it makes perfect sense that libraries are making every effort to fulfill the growing patron demand.
eBooks at a Glance
Sometimes referred to as electronic books or digital books, eBooks are simply published works in electronic form. To access eBooks, book lovers must download content onto a device, commonly called an eReader. There are dozens of eReaders to choose from, ranging in price from $99 to over $500.
Compatibility Issues
Consumers need to be careful when selecting from the plethora of devices. Publishers can encrypt eBooks in numerous file formats, which determines what brand of eReader will be able to display the text. To view an eBook, the eReader must be compatible with both the file format and the Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption of the file. Right now, EPUB is considered the standard eBook format. Sony’s Reader, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Borders’s Kobo Reader, Apple’s iBooks, Adobe Digital Editions, and a number of other reader devices and applications use it. Amazon’s Kindle, however, won’t read EPUB files.1
To limit eBook piracy, publishers use DRM software. DRM preserves copyright control of the digital version of books and restricts the ability to share eBooks to others. Additionally, DRM makes it difficult to put an eBook purchased from one company onto another company’s eReader. This means that Amazon Kindles or Kindle applications can only access eBooks from Amazon. However, as we mentioned in our previous blog story, Libraries, eBooks, and the DRM Debate, this makes it difficult for libraries to lend eBooks to their patrons because not everyone is using the same eReader with the same compatibilities.
If your library uses Overdrive to obtain digital material, use the graphic below to determine which eReaders are compatible with your library’s eBooks.
Libraries and Lending
The differences in devices and formats are a huge barrier to libraries. It is difficult to be knowledgeable on every eReader and every format. Despite these setbacks, libraries are still embracing eBooks as much as they can. Recently, 781 public libraries responded to a survey, The Growing Importance of Ebooks in U.S. Library Collections, from Library Journal. Of the libraries surveyed 72% offer an average of 1,529 eBooks.2 Additionally, according to the Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study, free access to eBooks is up 38% from three years ago, and 66% of public libraries report offering library patrons free access to eBooks.3
eBooks and the Marketplace
Even though eBooks have been around since the early 70s4, they haven’t seen a spike in popularity until just recently. According to the Association of American Publishers, sales are up 193% to $263 million compared to a year ago.5 Last year eBook sales only comprised 3.3% of total book sales. However, this year, eBook sales make up 9% of the consumer book market. Additionally, an estimated 4 million U.S. homes have an eBook reader, according to Forrester Research.5
With holiday promotions and deals right around the corner, researchers expect sales for eReaders and eBooks to boom in the next few months. In a recent New York Times article, Peter Hildick-Smith, president of the Codex Group, a book market research company, declared that “this is the tipping-point season for e-readers.”6 Currently, there are about 9 million eReaders in circulation in the United States. However, Forrester Research expects that number to grow to at least 10.3 million by the end of the year.6 In turn, eBook sales are expected to increase as well.
Future
Statistics show eBooks are on the rise but their vitality is of great debate and speculation. While some blogs say eBooks are here to stay, others report that they will fade out just as quickly as they rushed in. For example, Nicholas Negroponte, former head of MIT’s Media Lab and founder of One Laptop per Child, only gives the era of the printed book another five years before eBooks take over.7 On the other hand, novelist Stephen King says, “People tire of the new toys quickily.”8 And vice president of marketing at Raincoast Books, Jamie Broadhurst thinks that print and digital books will continue to coexist. “People are going to continue to use print product when it is the best design at the best price and the best package, and switch to digital when it's convenient, but it's not going to be an either/or proposition," he says.9
What’s Next?
As eReader companies try to stay on top of their competition, there will be constant technology upgrades to the devices. For example, just recently, Amazon announced that they will allow Kindle eBooks to be loaned between Kindle devices and Kindle application users. Users can lend their eBooks once for a 14-day period. Publishers will determine which titles will be capable of doing this, as not all eBooks will be enabled for lending. This is nothing new, though, as several other devices already have this capability.
Additionally, Barnes & Noble just introduced their new NOOKcolor. As the name implies, the NOOKcolor displays in color as opposed to black and white and has internet browsing over Wi-Fi. As other eReaders move in this direction, we may see enhanced eBooks debut. This variation of an eBook would not only contain the work in digital form, but also author interviews, videos, reading guides, internet links, and social networking applications. These enhancements, however, may drive up the low price of eBooks compromising one of their key selling points—cost.
Despite the increasing popularity of eBooks, their success in libraries may be hindered by inconsistencies between file formats and eReaders. Libraries will continually have to research in order to stay up-to-date with the latest technology and compatibility advances. Frequent CVS Midwest Tape’s News & Views as we will continue to track the latest eBook news as it pertains to libraries.
Does your library lend eBooks? What hurdles have you encountered with the format? Do you think eBooks are here to stay? Or do you think eBooks will fade away as quickly as they emerged?
The talk of the film world for the past several months, Swan will hit theatres across the U.S. and Canada on December 22. While the film is not exactly your typical let’s take the kids to see a movie on Christmas-type fare, this news is sure to bring some holiday cheer to moviegoers who were forced to miss out on last weekend’s limited release.
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